Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield, the US Representative to the United Nations, said in an interview on PBS that Russia has used chemical weapons "on their own people" and in Syria as well.

 “I am hoping that [Russian] Foreign Minister Lavrov’s statement [that the threat of nuclear war should not be underestimated] was just bluster, because the Russians, like all of us, know the seriousness of a nuclear attack, whatever nature that—or form that might come in,” Thomas-Greenfield stated. “And they know the seriousness of making these kinds of threats. So we’re hopeful that it is just that, it’s bluster, but we know what Putin is capable of. They have threatened to use nuclear weapons before. They’ve also used false flag accusations against the United States and the Ukrainians in terms of use of chemical weapons, and we know that they are capable of using chemical weapons. They’ve used them on their own people; they’ve used them in Syria.”